This Day in WCW History: WCW Halloween Havoc 1994 Took Place in Detroit, Michigan

“Witness the Terrifying Rage in the Cage!” – WCW Halloween Havoc Advert [October 23rd, 1994]While this PPV wasn’t the first time Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan faced each other in World Championship Wrestling, this match was supposed to be the write-off to their ongoing blood feud. Headed into the match though, the odds were incredibly stacked against Flair. Not only was Ric facing a Career-vs-Career match in a notoriously pro-Hogan town, but WCW brought in Hulk Hogan’s buddy, Mr. T, to serve as a special guest referee. When you throw in the fact that Hogan had just entered World Championship Wrestling in June of that year and was being pushed beyond the moon, chances are that you were dreading the finish of this one if you were a Ric Flair fan:

Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair - Halloween Havoc - October 23rd, 1994

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(Via WWE.com)

(Via WWE.com)

(Via WWE.com)

Unsurprisingly, the real story to this cage match were the politics going on behind the scenes of WCW. Ric Flair had no real intention to retire in 1994 for this match but was asked to lay low by Eric Bischoff for at least year to sell the angle/loss to Hogan. Flair became worried about saying yes to the whole thing because he was aware of Harvey Schiller coming in to be the new head of Turner Sports around this time. Flair’s perception of the shifting WCW political landscape caused him to rightfully demand some sort of job protection in case Bischoff got canned by the upcoming Schiller. Flair hadn’t had his own contract extended by then and by accepting this “retirement” angle with Hogan, he could’ve found himself being ousted as well.

As the story goes, Ric Flair ended up signing a 2-year contract extension that night at Halloween Havoc in a scenario that wasn’t so much an Ultimate Warrior style holdout, but Flair was adamant that he’d have some sort of protection before facing Hogan. Flair has stated that he had the paperwork signed right as he was walking through the curtain for the main event, right at the last possible moment. Apparently, Flair was going to be moved more into a backstage booking role within WCW, but by March 1995, Ric Flair would reappear at the Uncensored PPV, dressed in drag and cheap-shotting Randy Savage during his match against Avalanche:

33-year-old World Championship Wrestling fanatic/collector/hoarder. Runs a soil analysis lab in Austin, TX by day and scans in old wrestling magazines by night.
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